Sneakers and Wine

Christmas is past.   It is over. And now we move on towards a new year.  In cleaning up the living room before leaving for my parents’ house yesterday, I decided to just start cleaning up Christmas, all of it, including the tree.   I cannot really fully explain why, but when Christmas is over, I need the tree to come down.   Yesterday as I was starting to leave my home to drive to my parents’ home I suddenly and with conviction, decided to stop and go back inside my house, change into my running clothes and sneakers, and go for a quick run.   It was unseasonably warm in Connecticut yesterday and the sun was shining, making it feel more like an early spring day than a cold winter morning.   It had been a while since I’d gone out for a run and this morning was especially quiet.   I fell back in love quickly with the rhythm of my sneakers hitting the ground and my breathing in and out.   I felt free, free of all the holiday stress,...

As a child, my parents worked hard to make this time of year magical.   My mother would stay up all night decorating the house so that when we woke up, it would be magically decorated, by elves of course.   Every Christmas TV Special was another event and we sat down as a family to watch each and every one.   My mother baked cookies it seemed just about every day. My father played Christmas music on the record player all day. And when we watched Miracle on 34 th Street, my father would excitedly point out this is the true story and that is not an actor, it is the REAL Santa Claus.   Each Sunday, we celebrated a new Sunday in Advent, always being reminded, gently, what Christmas really is all about. The Christmas tree and stockings didn’t go up until Christmas Eve and again, this was an event.   We would all decorate the tree together.   The evening of Christmas Eve, we all went to church to be part of the Christmas Pageant and Children’s Choir.  ...